WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Personnel, held a hearing to receive testimony updating the subcommittee on research, diagnosis, and treatment for traumatic brain injury/concussion in service members.
“Since 2000, the Department of Defense diagnosed over 370,000 service members with traumatic brain injury, with the majority of them diagnosed in non-deployment settings. This is not a unique problem within the Department of Defense however– it is a national problem,” said Senator Tillis. “Last year alone, there were about 2.5 million emergency room visits related to concussions in the United States, and medical experts believe there were many more concussed individuals who did not seek medical care. Congress must pursue multiple approaches to understand better the chronic effects of traumatic brain injury, including the long-term neurodegenerative problems associated with multiple concussive injuries.”
The subcommittee members heard testimony from 2 panels that included the following witnesses:
Panel 1
*Dr. David W. Dodick – Sports Neurology And Concussion Program Director, Mayo Clinic
*Dr. Steven D. Devick – Chief Executive Officer King-Devick Technologies, Inc
*Dr. Christopher M. Miles – Associate Director, Sports Medicine Fellowship, Wake Forest University
Panel 2
*Dr. Joel D. Scholten – Associate Chief Of Staff For Rehabilitation Services For The Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC
*Dr. David X. Cifu – Principal Investigator, Chronic Effects Of Neurotrauma Consortium, Department Of Veterans’ Affairs
*Captain (Dr.) Michael J. Colston, USN – Director, Military Health Policy And Oversight For The Assistant Secretary Of Defense For Health Affairs
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